At the weekly meeting, members and guests of the Rotary Club of Sierra Vista were pleased to have George Wheat, Co-Chair for the Cowboy Poets event, and Steve Conroy, past chair and Cowboy entertainer, provide the club with information about the upcoming Cowboy Poet event.

 

The Cochise Cowboy Poetry & Music Gathering theme this year– “It’s Cool to be a Cowboy,” features performances by the Grammy Winning Riders in The Sky and other award-winning western music and poetry artists. The gathering begins on Friday, February 7th at Buena High School, and runs through Saturday performances on February 8^th.  On Saturday afternoon before the evening performances, the very popular Barn Dance will be held to help celebrate the Cowboy Way. Then on Sunday, February 9^th, there will be a breakfast at the High School prepared by the Culinary Arts students.

 

George Wheat stated this was the 28^th year of the Gathering. Each year students across Cochise County are introduced to the western way of life and poetry writing through the Western Heritage Schools Outreach Program.  This year, from all the students writing poetry, there were 36 prize winners and two scholarship winners. To give the club a taste of the poems and music to expect at the Gathering, Steve Conroy offered to recite one of his favorite poems about “Purtenear Perkins.”  After which, Steve took out his guitar and sang a western tune “Cheyenne.” He was prevailed upon to sing another tune and he accommodated with the Classic tune “Tumbling Tumble Weeds.” A final treat from Steve was his own poem “Grampa’s Will.”  Following Steve, George Wheat provided a reading from the Saddlebag of Poems, a remarkable collection of poems written by the best of the young students from the third through twelfth grade. He chose a prize-winning submission by his daughter, Amanda Wheat, called “Hats Off to the Cowgirl.” There are Cowboy Poet tickets for sale on-line and at various places in Sierra Vista.

 

Before the meeting concluded, we were reminded of the Annual Relay for Life team that Barbara Culton is forming. She has asked for more volunteers to help raise funds to fight cancer. We were also reminded of the Taste of Sierra Vista event that we are having on the 7^th of March – a major fund-raising event for the Rotary this year.